May 2, 2006
This module adds two Chimera commands setzoom and windowsize.
setzoom <pixels-per-angstrom> windowsize <width-in-pixels> <height-in-pixels>
Use menu entry Favorites / Command Line to display the command entry area at the bottom of the main Chimera window.
setzoom 2.0 windowsize 800 600
The setzoom command sets the magnification to a specified number of pixels per Angstrom. Because Chimera uses perspective projection objects closer to the viewer appear larger. The magnification is set for the depth corresponding to the center of the displayed models (technically the center of the bounding box). For models that use units other than Angstroms, the magnification is pixels per model unit length.
Minimum window size. The status line and command entry box at the bottom of the main Chimera window prevent the window from being resized by the windowsize command to a width smaller than about 450 pixels. Hiding the status line and command entry field allows setting smaller sizes. The status line can be turned off using Favorites / Preferences / Messages / Show status line. The command-line can be hidden with menu entry Tools / Command-line / hide. Commands can still be typed with the command-line hidden.
Set zoom requires displayed models. Models must be displayed before using the setzoom command otherwise there is no effect. This is because the magnification is set for a viewing depth equal to the center position of displayed models.